The Gap In Between
by Senwich
Summary: Sequel to Worlds Apart. They were worlds apart and that gap between their worlds could never be filled. Yet somehow, a bridge was built connecting their words together. ItaSaku ON HOLD


**Senko:** Due to popular voting, this is the sequel to "Worlds Apart." I couldn't think up of a long story to follow it, so I decided to make this one-shot sequel thing, yep.

**Summary:** [Sequel to "Worlds Apart" While Sakura pays a visit to her attic and Itachi travels to Konoha to capture the Kyuubi, the two stumble upon the only link that could ever connect their worlds together. ItaSaku.

**Dagorwen of Beleriand: **Heyyz! Well, the farthest I got was looking you up on the rankings. I haven't been on Maple Story (which is why I'm still updating LoL) much, last time I was on was for the latest patch and I was only on for an hour or so. One of these days, I'll get to stalking you xD

**Rii.MAYORI:** LoL I looked you up on the rankings :D CUTE PIXELS! I love your hair! XD my acc has the disheveled hair (LMAO I get tons of people calling me the grudge/ring) with uh...the eyes of this person called monaaaxd (looked it up on the rankings) xD I'msh so scarii x3

And thanks a bunch to **Chiisarin, CosenAngel, Epitome-of-all-things-Engli..., konoha GiRL, clea everlasting, blossom-geisha, Coeur Casse, Hikaru Adams, Challa, Rhonda21, Sunset Sky, MyKyo, MomoiroNeko, SpongeHerBob, eekabee, SweetAssassin, Wishyuki, Artemis411, tlh, cliffdiver, Gothic Saku-chan, Chidori no Tenshi, Mistress DragonFlame, BlackWhite113, BlackElement7, Mizu, Okami15, Jane, glittergal92, mahalo4ursupport, ApplelyApple, Mint Bliss, Soul of AquaBlue, Amber K., amynta, Bloody Sunrise, Emriel, Vindiction13, Skullcandy, ninjaxbunny, Hyousetsu, Hao's Anjul, angel-in-hell-71, GaaraRules, eaa x o o, Hopeless Romantic, BetC, Crimson90, lil'kit CC, Kgirl311, Heartless Ghostie, angelica, Kiki, The Squabbit, SatuAka, TeenageCrisis, Magpie-of-Doom, KyraLeonheart, sakuragirl13579, beth, Avincenna, Itachi4Eva, Mimi, LadySakuraForest, T34rSoFBlOoD, Moongoddess97, Uchiha Kari,****koyainuchan, Shy-Princess, Sekiryu **and** haruTea **for reviewing to the last chapter of "Worlds Apart"!

**Disclaimer: **Me no own. Duh.

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Chapter 1

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Ino let out a few coughs. "Geez, Forehead Girl. It's like you haven't cleaned this place in ages!"

Sakura sat down beside a nearby box and brought out an old, light brown teddy bear. "I suppose you're correct. I haven't been up here since my parents passed away."

It was sunset when Ino had dropped by Sakura's place and asked for some pictures of when they were small. She said she wanted to make a collage to hang on her bedroom wall but had a large amount of space left and ran out of images. Normally Sakura would be working until dark but it was Sunday and she although she had insisted that she could work, Tsunade had forced her home.

Ino didn't know what had happened, but Sakura had definitely changed. She remembered clearly a year ago when she, Sakura, Naruto and Neji had gone on a mission to the southern area of the Fire Country. She had suspected that something was wrong with her pink-haired best friend; Sakura was always so bright and cheerful but during their mission Sakura was awfully depressed. After they found her unconscious by the collapsed cave and brought her back to the hotel and she woke up, they had gone to buy some food.

When they returned, they were all shocked to see that Sakura wasn't in her own bed but was instead in the room next to theirs, kneeling on the ground and burying her face in a black shirt, her sobs echoing throughout the hallways of the hotel. When she had calmed down enough to travel, they returned to Konoha.

For a few weeks Sakura avoided human contact. She would work extra shifts at the hospital and wouldn't even have time for dinner. She was glad that Sakura cheered up after a few weeks, but Sakura was different.

It was as though Sakura was hit with some odd determination that made her busy herself with training, studying and working. Now, she was _almost_ on the same level as the Hokage – armed with her knowledge of medical jutsus and her powerful potions, Sakura could be a deadly opponent and perfect silent assassin.

"Pig?" Sakura glanced over at her blonde best friend. "Are you just going to stand there? The photos won't magically appear before you."

"Ok, ok, I'm on it," Ino said, walking around the attic and glancing around for what might seem like a photo book.

"Ah, I think this is it," Sakura said, pulling out a worn out photo album from a random box. Ino stalked over to her and indeed it was the photos she had wanted. Sakura handed the book to the blonde. "Oh, I almost forgot."

"Hm?"

"Last time I came up to put a book here, I remember I was looking around and found your diary from when we're little. I think you might have forgot it during one of our sleepovers and I just kept forgetting to give it back to you," Sakura looked around, trying to find the book.

"Ah, that's okay," Ino held the photo album against her chest. "You should probably go and prepare dinner for yourself. Whenever you're bored, you can search for it."

"Are you sure?" Sakura gave her friend a questioning look. "I hardly come up here, you know?"

"I'm sure," Ino nodded, turning around to leave. "Well, it's dark now and I have a date with Shikamaru soon. I'll drop by the hospital tomorrow at lunch to make sure you're eating!"

"Yeah, yeah," Sakura replied lazily, leaning back against a large bookshelf as Ino's retreating steps sounded in her ears. When she heard her front door open and then close, she knew Ino had gone and she stood up and faced the bookshelf.

She sighed, deciding to quickly find the diary for Ino. _'Alright, let's do this!' _Minutes passed by and Sakura still stood there in front of the bookshelf, grabbing random books and flipping through them to see which one was Ino's. It had been a while and she had forgotten what the book looked like.

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The wind shook their cloaks this way and that, the pattern of the red clouds swaying gently. Night had fallen and the illumination of the moon glowed against them. There was a faint ringing sound that came from one of them, from the small bells that hung down from his hat. There two of them, one large and tall and the other one slightly shorter and smaller. They stood on the mountain in which the faces of the Hokages were carved into, giving them a clear view of the city of Konoha.

"Ah! It's been a whole year since we've been here, Itachi!" the larger figure exclaimed, shifting the gigantic sword that hung on his shoulder.

"Hn..." came a low reply from Itachi. "Let's hurry and do this, Kisame."

"Alright, alright," Kisame grinned. "Remember that hotel we always stay at. I'll make reservations and meet you there at midnight."

And with that, Kisame was gone. Itachi still stood there, watching the village.

It had been a year since he had last gone there. No, not just Konoha. A whole year since he had gone _there_, gone back to his life with a certain someone. Since then, he had avoided the Fire Country so he wouldn't see her again. A few times he'd seen her with his eyes during his travel and he'd watch in the shadows as she interacted with her team, performing her missions. But many times he saw her in his mind.

He immediately shoved away his thoughts. He was on a mission to capture the Kyuubi, and this time he and Kisame would carry out their plan. He turned to descend the mountain. He would gather information on where the Kyuubi was, and then they would attack the next day. It wasn't easy to get the Kyuubi, though, and he inwardly cursed Konoha for setting up such high security around the Kyuubi's vessel.

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Her hand took hold of a thin, black book and she automatically flipped it open like she had done to the other books. She noted to herself that the book was empty and she wondered why. _'Perhaps I started writing in here and never finished.'_

_'Go to the first page and check then,' _a voice from within told her and she complied.

Her lips parted and her eyes widened at the very first sentence, the only sentence written in the book.

What if the Uchiha Clan hadn't been massacred?

Immediately, she shut the book and let it fall to the ground next to her. She was breathing heavily and she tried to calm herself. A few seconds later she had regained her clam and her jade eyes gazed down at the black notebook. She then dropped to her knees slowly and her slender fingers found themselves running against the edge of the book.

How could she had forgotten that she left the book up here? When she returned from the mission in which she saw Itachi for the last time, she had spent her days depressed. She had gone to the place where she had first woken up and discovered she was no longer in her world...the place under that tree in which she fell asleep. There, she found the notebook and returned to place it in her attic.

She never looked at it again and avoided going to the attic.

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Itachi sat at the end of the restaurant, almost hidden away in the shadows. He couldn't afford to be seen, after all. Having not had a meal the entire day, he decided to stop by the restaurant and have dinner before he continued. Although he was seen as a monster for all his crimes, he was still human and required food in order to function properly.

"What? No way! You can_not_ be serious!"

Itachi cringed at the high-pitched voice before taking another sip of his tea. As though the all too girly voice wasn't enough, the two girls who had just entered the restaurant just had to take the table in front of him. One was blonde and very pretty, but of course he had seen better – he'd seen a better female with pink hair. The next one was pale and had dark hair. He knew they were shinobi by their forehead protectors that held the Leaf symbol.

"Y-Yea...I-I was so shocked that N-Naruto-kun hugged me. I fainted..." Itachi was glad the dark-haired girl had a timid and low voice.

"You sure gave us a shock, Hinata-chan!" the blonde exclaimed, flipping open the menu that was on the table. "I was on a date with Shikamaru and all of a sudden, I saw you collapse! I thought you had died or something. Then Shikamaru and Naruto was called to Hokage-sama's office."

"I-I see...sorry, Ino-chan. I ruined your date..." Hinata apologized.

"It's alright!" Ino beamed. "It's nothing, since I can always go on another date with Shikamaru. It's your date I'm sorry about...Naruto told me to tell you he has to leave tomorrow."

"Oh? Mission?"

"I don't know. He didn't tell me, all he said was he'll be back soon."

"O-oh..."

Disappointment filled Itachi to discover that the Kyuubi's container would be leaving. He and Kisame had traveled all the way to Konoha and finding out their target would be leaving didn't exactly result in any positive feelings. He gently shoved the cup of tea away, about to get up and leave when the two kunoichi's conversation began again.

"Ino-chan, where were you before your date? I-I dropped by to give you some medicinal creams I made and you weren't home."

"Ah, I went to bother Sakura."

"Oh...how is Sakura-chan?"

"Same as always," she sighed. "Well, she's much better like this than depressed."

"I-I see..." Hinata muttered. "Oh, can you tell me where Sakura-chan lives? I've never really visited her...and I want to give her some of my medicinal creams."

"Well, I don't remember what her house number is but it's on the intersection of Leaf Avenue and Fire Street. Her house is the light blue one," Ino revealed. "Since her mother passed away half a year ago, it's hard to find Sakura at home. Sometimes I just sneak into her bedroom and drop off things; it's the one with a huge cherry blossom tree in front of it."

"I see..."

* * *

Sakura's finger eventually stopped stroking the edge of the thin book and she found her slender fingers taking hold of the book, bringing it up to her chest into an embrace.

No matter how hard she tried to forget.

No matter how hard she tried to tell herself she was content without him.

She simply couldn't forget the peace that that fake realm held, that tranquility and love between everyone. To see Naruto's smile, Sasuke's happiness, and most of all to see that Itachi could indeed stray away from his path as an Akatsuki member and live 'normally.' Well, a shinobi's life was never entirely normal.

The sounding of footsteps stole her attention.

She found it odd that Ino would return and when the footsteps neared, her gaze shifted upwards to be met with a boy around her age, his onyx eyes staring at her and his spiked hair bringing back memories to her.

* * *

Itachi strolled through the streets of Konoha, heading towards the hotel that he and Kisame would meet at. He would have to tell them that the Kyuubi's container would be leaving tomorrow and they should either attack tonight or follow Naruto tomorrow.

It was a good thing that it was night, because most people were asleep and it wouldn't put him at risk of being identified as Akatsuki.

It was also a good thing that it was night, so that no one would see as he stopped walking and looked forwards at the street sign.

When he and Kisame had first come to Konohagakure together, they had decided on a hotel to stay at. Since they didn't normally come to the Leaf (because Itachi would be easily recognized), they never bothered to keep track of the streets and all these years that Itachi spent away from the Leaf had left his memory fuzzy to the names of the roads.

Ironically, he had been traveling along Fire Street, and up ahead was the intersection of Leaf Avenue.

It was a good thing that it was night, so that no one would see that curiousity had won him over and as he neared the intersection, instead of traveling onwards to the hotel he had taken a left turn.

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"Sasuke...?"

Sakura's jade orbs stared at the boy for what seemed like an eternity to her. Why was he there at her place? He'd only gone to her place once to fetch her for a Team Seven meeting and he discovered her lateness was due to a fever she had caught. But now? From the small window on the wall, she could clearly see the crescent moon and she knew it was late.

"Sakura? Are you done yet?" he asked.

Done? With what? "H-huh?"

"You said that Ino wanted you to come and get some sort of photo album for her because she's making a collage. You've been here for a while," he said, earning a questioning look from Sakura. How had he known she was looking for the photo album.

"Oh, I uh...wait, when did I tell you I came here to get something for Ino? How did you know?"

He gave her a look as though she was insane. "You...told me, remember? I saw you when you finished teaching at the academy and walked with you and you wanted to stop by here. Sakura, are you ok?"

"I..." she couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, because she found everything too odd and confusing.

"Well, I'll help you then. We really have to head back since Itachi-nii-san is coming back from his mission today and I know you want to greet him."

She stood up quickly. "Oh, we should hurry and -"

And.

And what?

Wait for..._'Itachi-nii-san'?_

That was when realization struck her, when everything began to make sense, and when the thin black notebook she held slipped out of her grasp and fell against the cold attic floor.

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**Senko: **Sorry for the extreme shortness xD I was actually going to extend it longer but I figured it's late right now and I have school tomorrow and I didn't post up the sequel for a while so I might as well just leave it here.

This sequel, right now, probably won't be very long. I don't know if it'll exceed 10 chapters because I have the beginning and end planned out but I don't know about what's in between. LoL. I mean, I have some stuff in between thought up but so far there isn't much. If you awesome readers have anything suggestions or anything you really want to happen, tell me and I'll consider it :D


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